


Escalation

by quiescentcas



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Rex POV, sand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiescentcas/pseuds/quiescentcas
Summary: *u gotta read it in The Voice*Separatist plot on Jedha! Men from the Clone Army, accompanied by Jedis Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Padawan Ahsoka Tano land on the sandy planet. Their mission is to stop the Separatists from taking control and gaining access to the valuable Kyber crystals. But will Anakin be able to get over his hatred of sand? And will Obi-Wan send this mission crumbling into failure? Only Captain Rex can tell.





	Escalation

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a some silly ideas inspired by [this tumblr post](http://calyssmarviss.tumblr.com/post/171268450139/scandalized-anakin-noise-just-sand), but then (as these things do) it morphed into something much larger.  
> This is my first foray into starwars fic so go easy ;P I’m sure there’s so much technical shit that I messed up. Also it’s unbeta-ed.  
> Though ending up not as crack-y as I’d originally intended, this story probably shouldn’t be taken that seriously! And everybody lives dammit XD

A vicious wind whipped the group making their way over from the recently landed transport ship. Captain Rex watched from the command center of their small, temporary base installed on Jedha, relieved he didn’t have to make that walk. The ship in front of him had landed slightly further away than he’d expected, as if it was afraid of the fragility of the base. Which would’ve been overly cautious to the point of foolish - the base was surviving well in this sandstorm, and any ship draft wouldn’t compare.

Regardless of the wind, the band of soldiers kept moving. Rex counted ten clones, including Commander Cody, but with the lack of visibility, he thought he could only recognize Waxler and Boil. He also saw Commander Tano in the middle, and bringing up the rear - wait, what? Rex leaned closer to the window, wondering if the flying sand had caused his eyes to play tricks. But as he blinked hard and peered down at the group below him, he realized that what he saw was real. General Kenobi was walking behind the troopers,  _ carrying _ General Skywalker in his arms. Was Skywalker hurt? He couldn’t imagine how - they had all come straight from Coruscant, and nobody had mentioned a ship problem over their last comm. 

The clones began to disappear under the window, and Rex turned back to the holo-table. With the Jedi here, things would finally get moving. Not that they hadn’t already - the set up and recon had been running from the moment of Rex and his squadron’s arrival a few solar cycles ago - but the Jedi, especially the three entering the base right now, had a habit of bringing trouble with them.

Luckily, Jedha was small, Rex thought as he surveyed the maps in front of him, and there were only two cities of any importance on the whole moon. But because their mission was a secretive one, that of disrupting a leaked Separatist plan to take over and monopolize the mining of Kyber crystals, they had camped out a few miles outside Jedha City. 

Rex wondered if they were still too close to the city to avoid detection, especially from above and even with all their camouflage, but the sandstorm that had swept up in the early morning hours had set his concern down to the bottom of the pile. At the top of the pile was the uncertainty of, well, anything really. Trustworthy intel had been received, and the lateness of the Jedi was due to a last minute update from Chancellor Palpatine, but there were still key points missing. Who would the Separatists send, for instance? Surely not droids in these conditions…

Rex’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, and the entrance of the sandswept group. Most of the clones had dispersed throughout the base, leaving only Cody and the Jedi. Rex eyed Skywalker as he walked in ahead of Kenobi, a small spring in his step, a casual smirk on his face and an appearance of being completely unharmed. Rex’s gaze quickly switched to Obi-Wan, who was watching the other Jedi with a slight expression that on him could only be described as glowering. Finally understanding, Rex had to physically force his features to neutrality.

It was only their talent and success rate that stopped Rex from worrying about whatever game he’d caught them in. Likely Kenobi had started it, verbally at least, with some comment about the mission being on a sandy planet. However, the fact that it had already escalated to Anakin convincing his former master to carry him was troubling. 

“What’s our status, Rex?” Anakin asked.

Rex gave the Jedi a quick brief of what they’d gotten done and what any of the scouts had reported. It wasn’t much; there had been no sign of any evil plots yet. The only thing worth commenting on was whether this sandstorm would affect the Separatist’s plan.

“I can’t imagine they’d send droids,” said Obi-Wan. “It’d be foolish, even for them.”

“But who else would agree to come all the way out here? Loyalty to Dooku doesn’t take many further than defending their own planets,” Ahsoka countered.

Rex noticed Anakin shift his weight impatiently; this was clearly a conversation they’d all had before.

“We’ll find out when they get here, which, according to Chancellor Palpatine, should be in less than two solar cycles,” Anakin said. “In the meantime, we need to get in contact with officials in Jedha City and get them to send us all the flight manifestos they have for ships coming in.” 

“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to open a comm line in this storm,” said Rex.

“That’s why we brought a special device for this weather,” said Obi-Wan. He appeared to stop and think a moment. “Cody, did you bring that over?”

“No, sir. General Skywalker told me he’d be responsible for it.”

Obi-Wan turned to Anakin with a twitch of his robes that almost came off as a small dramatic flourish. Anakin shifted uncomfortably.

“I did,” he admitted. “It’s still on the transport.”

“Well, you’d better go get it then.”

Anakin shot his master a dark look, but Obi-Wan only stared back blandly. Out of the corner of his eye, Rex saw Ahsoka quickly hide a smile. Anakin turned, but just as he reached the door, Obi-Wan spoke up again.

“Oh, Anakin, remember that favor you owed me from Cato Nemoidia?” The way he said it sounded practiced, either like he’d been planning this, or it was a near repeat of something Anakin had said recently. Rex was guessing the latter. Either way, Anakin spun on his heel slowly, with a look that was a mixture of confusion and horror. “Well, I can hardly call this asking a favor; I know you’ve been working hard at catching up on the days you were confined to bed after your last injury. But still, you only broke your wrist and 3 ribs because you landed that drop poorly and forgot to roll properly. I think it’d be good for you to practice front springs followed by a roll the whole way over to the ship. And back, while you carry the comm device, protecting it from the sand.”

Anakin’s look had turned to pure horror now. “You could’ve used that favor for anything else,  _ anything _ .”

“Which is why I’m using it now,” Obi-Wan replied calmly.

Rex frowned; that was an obscure thing to ask, even for Obi-Wan. He noticed that Ahsoka’s face had arranged from something humorous to something almost apologetic. Rex shook his head slightly, unable to understand what- but as he pictured his general flipping and rolling over to the transport he realized, Anakin would not be able to do it without his mechanical hand picking up a gallon full of sand. 

Both Anakin and Obi-Wan were now standing in front of each other like they were squaring off and totally oblivious of everyone else in the room. Finally Anakin relaxed, and a smile came to his face as he stepped up to his old master.

“Well, I guess you won’t mind if I borrow these then,” he said, reaching up to grab the sand goggles hanging around Obi-Wan’s neck. Kenobi stood there silently with his arms folded and let Anakin pull them over his head.

“Master, I may have a spare pair of goggles under the pilot seat of the transport,” Ahsoka said, almost meekly, though that was not much coming from the fierce Togruta girl.

“You didn’t say anything about that before!” Anakin complained.

“It didn’t look like you needed them!” Ahsoka shot back.

Anakin sighed. “Fine, I’ll get them too.” He stormed back to the door, shooting Obi-Wan a dark look before leaving.

Obi-Wan turned to walk up to the window where he could watch Anakin make the journey, and everyone else followed.

Rex stepped up beside Kenobi. “General, are you sure it’s best to… ah, antagonize him this way. We could be on this planet for months.”

“I agree with Captain Rex,” said Ahsoka. “Besides-” she hesitated, her voice dropping and her cheeks tinged with red, “you’re not his master anymore.”

Obi-Wan actually laughed out loud. “Oh, Ahsoka. You’re right, of course, but were I still, he’d be doing much worse than that. Especially for leaving behind something that important in preference of such foolish behavior.”

Ahsoka tilted her head. “Why’d you go along with it then?” she asked dryly.

“Considering the favor I owed him for Mygeeto, I think that was a much better repayment than some other awful plan Anakin could’ve come up with,” Obi-Wan replied smoothly.

Suddenly Anakin appeared from the bottom of the window. He moved gracefully and quickly, despite the wind threatening to throw him halfway across the moon with every leap. It had taken the original group a seemingly endless three minutes to make it over, but in barely one, Anakin was back aboard the transport. Obi-Wan turned away from the window and back to his men.

“General Kenobi,” Rex ventured, “my question still stands.”

“A Jedi must learn how to prioritize, and how to handle adverse situations without losing his attention to the Force.”

Rex nodded, but he knew he’d only gotten a vague half truth, if that. “Am I dismissed, sir?”

“Yes, thank you, Captain. You too, Commander.” Obi-Wan turned back to the window just in time to see Anakin re-emerge, but Rex stepped away and followed Cody out of the room. He had to report back to his men.

~~~~~

When Rex got to the dorms, he found a bunch of his and Cody’s men gathered around a large bundle of… something. He couldn’t make it out under all the cloth that was lying around.

Though he didn’t see who recognized him first, suddenly all the men were silent and standing to attention.

“At ease,” Rex said, and the second after there was an explosion of voices.

“Sir, the patrol this morning-”

“-keep out the sand-”

“-looks like our insignia-”

“-burn it?”

“-better protection-”

“-couldn’t _ not _ investigate inside-”

“ALRIGHT!” Rex yelled over the babble. “One at a time.”

Jesse was the first one to talk, and he won out over all the others. “When me and Hardcase were on patrol this morning, we got caught out in this storm. We had to look for shelter, and that’s when we found a cave just south of here. We scanned for lifeforms but found nothing. It was just a small cave, empty inside except for this.” 

Jesse stepped back, and a few of the men lifted up swath of fabric and spread it out before him. It had some sort of strange symbol on it that Rex didn’t recognize. When they didn’t step aside to show what was under it, Rex raised an eyebrow. He’d expected something a little more exciting. 

“The cloth?”

“Yes, sir. We found loads of it.” 

“So… was there anything under it?” Rex asked.

“That’s the thing, sir, there was just a bunch of boxes, looked like they were made of something plant based-”

“There was nothing inside, we checked,” Hardcase interrupted.

Jesse gave him a sharp look then continued. “But what we thought was weird was that they were in perfect condition and had not a speck of sand on them.”

Rex narrowed his eyes. Given that they had been hanging out in a cave in the desert for who knows how long, that  _ was _ odd.

Hardcase interrupted again. “We think it could be something to do with the Force.”

“Or not,” said Jesse, giving his friend another look, “but it might be useful to us anyway. I was thinking, if we tore it up and tied it to our armor, it could stop some of the sand getting in our joints. That way we wouldn’t get all crusted up like the droids are gonna be.”

Rex looked around at the other men, most of whom seemed to be nodding in agreement. Some just shrugged.

“Anybody recognize the symbol?” Rex asked.

“It’s the insignia of the Old Republic.” 

In the general confusion, Rex had not heard Cody come up behind him, but it was he who spoke. Rex turned and glanced at him; Cody was staring oddly at the cloth, and wearing a frown. There was some muttering amongst the men.

“Maybe it really is affected by the Force,” said Wooley

Jesse rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He turned to Rex. “What’s the verdict, Captain? Can we use this?”

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with running or shooting a blaster,” said Rex. He wondered if their talk about the Force was nonsense, but he’d seen stranger things happen. Maybe this  _ would _ somehow protect his men, more than just from the sand. But Rex wasn’t sure if he could hold on to that kind of hope. “Just… try and hide that symbol, ok?

Cody caught him before he could head out. “We should talk to the Jedi about this before letting them get too attached to it.”

Rex nodded. He wanted to stay in control of this before Cody went to General Kenobi, if he could. “I’ll talk to General Skywalker right now.”

~~~~~

The Jedi were the only ones who had rooms to themselves, though as Rex stepped into Obi-Wan’s room, he did not envy them. He had knocked on the door to Anakin’s room first, but hadn’t gotten any answer and was not surprised to find Anakin here, instead. He was, however, surprised and maybe a little relieved to find that Obi-Wan wasn’t here with him. 

Head bent over his mechanical arm, Anakin sat in the middle of Obi-Wan’s bed with his back against one wall, and his feet propped up on the other. He had already removed his gloves, spilling sand all over the bed sheets and the floor, and he was in the process of cleaning his mechanical arm. Brushes of various sizes as well a an open can of grease sat on Obi-Wan’s pillow.

Rex had to hide a smirk as Anakin was unable to stop the flinch he made when the door flew open. He almost saw the boy breath a sigh of relief upon recognizing his commanding officer, not his master. 

“ _ General… _ ” Rex said, unable to keep the admonishment out of his voice.

Anakin blinked, but maintained an innocent look on his face. “Were you looking for Obi-Wan?” he asked.

“No, actually, I was looking for you. About something similar.” Rex gestured to Anakin’s mechanical arm.

Anakin nodded. “How are your men holding up in the sand?”

“One of my patrols this morning checked out a nearby cave that had evidence of previous dwellings. They knew before they entered that it was abandoned, but in there some of them found a lot of large rolls of cloth, which they’ve brought back to the base and are now wearing bits of the cloth in a way that protects their armor from getting stiff with all the sand.” It  _ was _ a good idea, and he was trying to paint it in that light regardless of the other issue, but Anakin still frowned at him in confusion. “I thought I’d better run it by you,” Rex quickly added.

Anakin put down the brush he was holding. “It’s your call, Rex, why are you coming to me?”

“Well, some of the bits of cloth have some sort of symbols painted on them. We think it may have something to do with the Old Republic.”

“You’re telling me you found a bunch of rags in a cave that could be a few thousand years old,” Anakin said, eyebrow raised.

Rex grimaced; he knew how it sounded. “Places with connections to the Force are always full of surprises.”

Anakin smiled, though there seemed to be pain behind it. “ _ That’s _ the truth.”

There was a moment of silence, as if Anakin had forgotten why Rex had come to him. He shifted his feet slightly, trying to get Skywalker’s attention. It worked, as the Jedi’s eyes snapped back to him. 

“You’re worried that this might give those who know about the symbol the wrong idea,” Anakin stated.

Rex almost sighed in relief. “Yes.”

“And you think the Jedi Council might not want us to be associated with that.”

“Something like that.”

Anakin chuckled. “I notice you came to me about this rather than Obi-Wan.”

“It’s likely Commander Cody will do that,” Rex admitted.

“Well I say it’s fine,” Anakin said, his voice a little too hard. Rex raised an eyebrow. “Maybe just turn the cloth inside out,” he amended.

“Yes, General. Thank you.” He backed out of Obi-Wan’s room. He’d expected that decision from Skywalker, but it was still a relief; any way he could thought he could help his men was a good path to take, especially in conditions like these. He wasn’t sure what made him feel this way about a stupid roll of cloth - it was really just a feeling - but he felt that in this matter he could trust his instincts.

Thankfully on his way back to his own quarters, he did not run into Obi-Wan, as he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to hide what Anakin was doing. He was, however, sought out by Ahsoka. 

“Have you seen Skyguy?” she asked, with a small frown.

“In Kenobi’s quarters.”

“Ah, of course, thanks, Rex.” She took a step away, then turned back to him. “Hey, I think I saw a couple of your men wearing these weird capes…”

Rex sighed and shook his head. “That’s not what I meant,” he muttered.

~~~~~

The next few cycles passed by without anything. No droids, no ships, no contact from the Jedi Council or the Republic, no blaster accidents, no surprise caves found, nothing. Hell, even the sand storm that had been raging finally passed over their camp, leaving everything that had been exposed in nearly half a foot of sand, including the transport ship.

No news was good news, usually, although in this case it just seemed to be putting everyone on edge. The men had been allowed to keep their cloth, and it was apparently working well. But that didn’t stop the conversations that Rex overheard about why they were on this planet waiting for what might be nothing, when they could be somewhere else fighting.

The only people in worse spirits, or in better, depending on which one was asked and when, were the Jedi. Ahsoka, though Rex could tell she’d had her hand in some of the hijinks, had openly tried to avoid the little feud going on between Anakin and Obi-Wan. As for the other two, well, Rex could see Obi-Wan walking down the hall with something suspicious thrown over his shoulder right this minute.

As he came closer, Rex could distinguish what looked to be a pillowcase, Anakin’s probably, except it was bulging heavily. Kenobi had it thrown over his shoulder like a… Like a damn sandbag. Rex gritted his teeth, a hundred different reasons springing to mind as to why Obi-Wan would have that.

“Is that for what I think it’s for?” he asked, almost not wanting the answer.

Obi-Wan gave him a quietly appraising look, then said, “If I say ‘don’t tell Anakin about this,’ and you understand, then yes, it is what you think it is.”

Rex wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan. He kept his face as still as possible. “Duly noted, sir.”

Taking that as a promise not to rat him out, Obi-Wan nodded, and they both went their separate ways.

~~~~~

It was early in the morning when Rex was awoken by a frantic beeping from the comm below his cot. He picked it up, scowling at the flashing light, and opened the line. Fives flashed into view, crouching behind what appeared to be a large boulder.

“Sir, enemy has landed. I repeat, enemy has landed.”

“How many, Fives?”

“We’ve spotted four landing craft, sir.”

“Alright, you and your patrol spread out. See if they’ve landed anywhere else. And I don’t need to tell you how important it is that you don’t. get. seen.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Report back quickly; it’s possible we’ll make our move soon.”

That wasn’t certain - in fact, in most missions it took the Jedi forever to make any move; patience, they councilled - but with Skywalker and the conditions they were in, Rex figured the opposite would be true.

Rex dressed quickly, bits of his armor had never even come off before he fell asleep last night, though before he’d gotten out of the dorm, Cody walked in, ready to go. Rex wondered if he’d even slept at all.

“The Jedi have been informed,” Cody said, flicking his eyes at the other soldiers, who were all working on getting their own armor on after hearing Rex’s comm. No doubt one of his men on the morning patrol had contacted him about the droids just as Rex’s man had. “We’re meeting them in the command room so we can confer with the Jedi Council.”

Rex nodded. “Let’s go then.”

In the hallway, they immediately encountered General Kenobi, who appeared to be surrounded by a small cloud of dust. Rex frowned, and he could almost hear Cody grinding his teeth beside him as Obi-Wan came closer to them. Hovering above him was the pillowcase Rex had seen him carrying the other day, except it was tilted at a slight angle, and the sand Obi-Wan had filled it up with was now trickling in a fine stream over the Jedi’s head. Rex groaned inwardly, though he wasn’t sure what was worse - that Anakin had gotten to this level of punishment, or that Obi-Wan was letting it happen. He tried to read Kenobi’s expression, but got nothing but a hard, placid stare back.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. Either of you.” Obi-Wan shot a sharp glance at the two of them and continued as if reading their minds. “I’ve tried. Unfortunately, I don’t have the benefit of being as strong in the Force as Anakin.”

“I assume he’s close by,” said Cody, gesturing at the Force-held pillowcase. “I saw him heading for Commander Tano’s quarters before I came back here.”

As if summoned, he and Ahsoka appeared together at the end of the hall. Their feet sent up little puffs of sand as they walked up to the others. Rex couldn’t help feeling bad for the droids that would have to clean all this up. 

Ahsoka gave the falling sand a furtive glance, but quickly looked down, as if she was having to make the conscious decision to ignore it. In fact, nobody said anything as the two of them walked down the hall, though Rex had to wonder if Anakin had grown an inch overnight. He seemed to be exuding the confidence of a man who knew he had gone too far but who wasn’t going to back down anytime soon. 

“Finally,” said Obi-Wan to Anakin. “ _ You _ were the one complaining about waiting around when you woke me this morning, and yet look who’s waiting now.”

Anakin shrugged, a lazy smile lighting up his face. “I had to convince Snips that fighting a battle in the middle of a desert would be fun.”

Ahsoka gave him a look that would’ve melted the hide off a bantha but replied coolly, “If there’s ever a day when I’m not excited about scrapping tinnies, you’ll know something is horribly wrong.”

Obi-Wan’s lips twitched in amusement underneath his beard, and Anakin’s smile stretched into a grin.

“Anyways, no time to waste,” said Obi-Wan, breaking the moment. He gestured to Cody who walked out in front of them, leading the group to the command room. The sandbag followed them too, and it did not let up its constant flow.

They gathered around the holo table, Rex moving over to the control panel and typing in the comm signal for the Jedi Council. He was just about to activate the hologram when Obi-Wan held his hand up.

“Anakin,” he said. “For appearance’s sake.”

After a second, the sand stopped, and the pillowcase floated a couple feet above Obi-Wan’s head, still threatening but out of view of the holo beam that would pick up their image. The cloud of dust slowly vanished from around Obi-Wan’s head, but sand grains clung to his eyelashes and eyebrows, his beard was completely encrusted, and a small pile of sand sat atop his head.

“I think you have a little something…” Anakin reached up to brush away some of the sand. Even Rex didn’t see Kenobi’s hand, but suddenly it was there, his fingers wrapped around Anakin’s wrist and stopping his hand’s path.

Anakin tilted his head slightly in mock amusement. “Why, master, I was only trying to help.”

Obi-Wan said nothing; he only stared intensely at the younger Jedi, and the moment he released Anakin’s flesh hand, it dropped back down to his side. Only Kenobi himself ran his hand through his hair, sending another small rush of sand tumbling down his robes. He ran a hand over his face too, then nodded to Rex who opened up the comm line.

It must’ve been a quiet day at the temple, as only Yoda and Mace Windu were there. 

“What news do you have?” asked Windu.

“The Separatists landed a couple hours ago, as we were told they would,” said Anakin. “Four landing craft, but there’s no sign of any ship waiting for them in space.”

“But there’s so few of them,” Ahsoka interjected. “We could clear out every last droid in minutes.”

“Patience, young Padawan,” said Yoda. “Doubt your ability, I do not, but other factors, there may be.”

“You think there are more droids elsewhere on the planet?” said Obi-Wan.

Rex clenched his jaw, but Cody spoke first. “Our men have been scouting half this moon and have found nothing that suggests any Separatist schemes. There are patrols out now, checking if other ships have landed when the first one did, and they’ll report back to us immediately.”

“Good,” said Windu, “but even if there are no more droids, those ships could be holding something we don’t know about.”

“A secret weapon,” said Anakin, nodding his head. 

“Perhaps. A trap, I sense,” said Yoda. “Proceed with caution, you must.”

There was something about that that made Rex frown, though the other Jedi merely nodded thoughtfully. Rex shrugged it off; if he didn’t understand how Yoda could sense a trap from the other side of the galaxy, it was probably just because he wasn’t a Jedi, and didn’t fully understand the Force.

“But Commander Tano has a point,” Rex said. “The droids that are there right now could be destroyed easily, especially considering we’d have the element of surprise. If we split our soldiers into two groups and sent in one group to capture the ship there, we could leave the second group hidden here as backup in case one of those suspicions is true.”

There was nodding and murmurs of agreement around the group.

“A sensible plan, that is,” said Yoda.

“Anakin and I could lead the first group,” said Ahsoka looking up at her master brightly.

Discussion sprung up about some of the finer details of their plan, but after a while the conversation seemed to be drawing to a close. As Rex glanced up at the sandbag, he realized that Anakin must be thinking the same thing - it was inching its way back down.

“...and we’ll contact you again as soon as this is over,” Kenobi finished, confirming Rex’s thoughts.

“May the Force be with you,” said Windu.

The holo blinked out, and the sand immediately resumed pouring. Even with a glance at Anakin, Obi-Wan’s face didn’t change, but something in the air around him crackled like the sky before a thunderstorm.

~~~~~

Anakin and Ahsoka had taken a little over half the men and were making their way over to the Separatists. To make sure that they caught the droids by surprise, the first group had to walk through the desert, much to Anakin’s dismay, but Rex, Cody, Obi-Wan, and the rest of the men would fly over when they were needed. It had been decided that even if it looked like there was no trap or diversion, they’d come anyway. Extra men were never a thing to be wasted.

Rex walked into the command room where he, Cody, and Kenobi would get updates from Anakin. Obi-Wan was sitting cross-legged on the floor, apparently deep in meditation. As it was, Anakin, Ahsoka, and the troops had been gone for just less than an hour, and they should’ve had another twenty minutes walk to the outskirts of the Separatist camp.

A sharp intake of breath suddenly came from Kenobi, and his eyes snapped open. Rex glanced over at Cody, but nobody spoke for a few minutes until Obi-Wan’s comm device started flashing. He tapped the button, and Anakin jumped into view. Or, at least,  _ half _ of Anakin. The other half appeared to be completely buried in sand.

“You seem to be in some trouble,” said Obi-Wan dryly.

Anakin scowled. “You seem unsurprised.”

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to reply, but then shut it quickly. For once he didn’t have a reply.

“Really? This weighs a damn ton!” Anakin snapped.

“Sir, where are you?” Cody interrupted. “Where are the men?”

“They’re right here. We’re fine. We’re making good progress. Well, we  _ were _ .”

“Good,” said Obi-Wan. “Then get yourself out of there and get back on your mission.”

Anakin’s eyebrows knotted together. “Are you saying you can’t help me?”

“I barely know how I managed to do that in the first place.” Obi-Wan sounded genuinely apologetic. “I’m sorry, Anakin, all I can tell you is to have patience. Concentrate, and let the Force guide you.”

“Yeah, right, of course.” Anakin rolled his eyes as he reached up to stop the transmission.

Obi-Wan frowned deeply as the hologram disappeared. “That was a lot more sand than I expected. The Force within this moon…” He shook his head.

“General Kenobi,” Cody said carefully, “I know you wouldn’t do anything to endanger the mission, but if General Skywalker is still trapped when his men need his help-”

“Anakin is perfectly capable of freeing himself with a little patience, and Ahsoka is more than capable of doing his job if he doesn’t,” Obi-Wan interrupted calmly. “Besides, the scant amount of sentient scrap metal is nothing your men can’t handle.”

Cody gave a quick nod, apparently satisfied. Kenobi hesitated a moment, and when he spoke again, the tone of his voice had changed to something almost resigned. “I thought at first that the weakness of the Separatist forces was an attempt at diverting our attention while they infiltrated the city elsewhere, but I’m now beginning to think that this whole mission was a ploy to remove us all from a more important battle elsewhere in the galaxy.”

Rex felt his blood chill; what Obi-Wan was saying made too much sense. “They never intended to capture Jedha City, but it was a logical enough move to make that we fell for it.”

“What are they doing instead?” asked Cody.

“I don’t know, though I expect we’ll find out once we’re back in contact with the Jedi Council. Let’s hope it’s not…”

Obi-Wan cut off his last words, but Rex could see the flash of frustration and pain in his eyes. They were the same emotions he felt too - had anything violent happened that they could’ve stopped instead of wasting time out here… Rex shook his head as if to dissipate the anger growing inside him, anger at the Separatists, anger at himself, anger at the war. He was glad he didn’t have to completely live up to the Jedi’s state of emotions. Trickery and anger and violence, that’s what it had reduced them all to. Well he would see an end to it, an end to all the fighting no matter what it took.

The room had become so still that Rex almost jolted when Obi-Wan spoke again. This time his voice was strangely soft and quiet, in admittance of something troubling. “Anakin didn’t want to be sent on this mission, and he asked the Council to be left behind. I didn’t insist that he come, but I didn’t try to change the Council’s decision either.” He absentmindedly lifted up a hand to scratch at his beard. “I was trying to distract him, at first - I didn’t want him to be consumed by his memories of... another sandy planet - but after allowing myself to get nearly drowned in sand I realized it was all because I knew any anger and resentment towards me would last half as long as any directed at the council. Maybe because I’ve deserved it for dragging him along on this mission.”

“Sir,” Cody replied, after a moment’s silence, “Skywalker knows how to do his job as a General, and you’ve taught him how to react to inconveniences as well as any Jedi should.”

“We can’t all be perfect,” Obi-Wan said defensively, his voice suddenly as hard as carbonite. Rex understood, and he felt a wave of gratitude toward Kenobi, but it was quickly replaced with some confusion as to whether Obi-Wan was referring to himself or Anakin. Or both.

Either way, Obi-Wan’s comm buzzed again, releasing each of them from the capture of the other two’s emotions. Anakin buzzed into view, sitting behind a piece of scrap metal. Outlines of clones firing from either side of him could just about be seen too, shifting in and out of the holo image.

“We’re ready for you, master. There’s no sign of any tricks,” he said, a little breathless, though that was likely from exhilaration. “Actually, I’m sure by the time you get here we’ll’ve scrapped the whole droid army.”

“And if you keep hiding back there talking to me, Ahsoka will’ve taken your men and destroyed them all for us.” Obi-Wan replied, smiling. Rex saw a quick grin from Anakin before the holo blinked out.

Obi-Wan glanced at him and Cody, his smile settling into a smirk. “Well we’d better go then. I certainly don’t want to miss out on all the fun.” 

Rex nodded with a grin of his own and jammed the helmet in his hands onto his head.

~~~~~

By almost freak happenstance, not a single clone died in their battle. Spirits were high among all the men, though if anything, this only confirmed to Rex what Obi-Wan had suggested; the Separatists must’ve sent their worst most useless droids out just so they could get scrapped in a pointless battle. But he put on a good face for his soldiers despite the worry he felt from anticipation of bad news. Life was nothing to scoff at, no matter how crappy the droids. A little part of Rex also wondered if it had anything to do with the cloth that his men were still wearing.

Upon entering the base again, he found himself falling in beside Ahsoka and behind Anakin and Obi-Wan, who were still bickering about the half burial Anakin had experienced. Rex looked down at Ahsoka, who walked serenely, smiling at the backs of her masters.

“So, how does it feel to be the most mature on the whole ship?” Rex asked her.

Ahsoka looked up at him, her smile suddenly mischievous. “I don’t know, Rex, how does it feel?” 

She lifted her arms up, revealing to him the two large balls of sand, floating just above her palms. In a flash, she had launched them at the backs of Anakin’s and Obi-Wan’s heads. They both found their mark, as evidenced by the pair spinning around with yells. 

“Rex?!”

Rex could feel his eyes widen. He heard a giggle, but when he turned to look, Ahsoka had vanished. He forced himself to look back up at the Jedi, who in an instant had put their differences aside and had now become the two halves of one whole, stalking towards their joint enemy with a predatory gleam in their eyes.

Rex laughed nervously. “Uh guys, can we talk about this?”

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think! I hope I gave Rex enough characterization and didn’t just use him as a viewing port. Also I still think this fic needed more Ahsoka. (but tbh the whole franchise needs more Ahsoka :P )


End file.
